Martinis were made for black-and-white movies. They were urbane, sophisticated, elegant. They shimmered with refinement.

Celebrated wits of the era thought of clever things to say about them (“Why don’t you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini?”). Droll poets wrote playful verse about them (“There is something about a martini/’Ere the dining and dancing begin/And to tell you the truth/It’s not the vermouth/I think that perhaps it’s the gin”).

But movies are in color now and have been for a long time. Our taste in cocktails, in large part, has changed, too. The hip imbibers of the day prefer to sip blended drinks with far more than two ingredients. They seek craft cocktails with artisanal ingredients, drinks carefully created and poured by someone usually called a mixologist, often without irony.

A craft cocktail, according to St. Louis’ Taste bar manager Kyle Mathis, is “a cocktail made with the most high-quality ingredients and constructed in the best technical way.”

So the primary liquor in a craft cocktail is often specified by brand, to make use of its particular qualities.

Hendrick’s Gin, for example, is infused with rose petals and cucumber, making it a popular choice for cocktails with a floral taste or a bit of sweetness requiring a bitter counterpoint.

Old Grand Dad bourbon, long consigned to the cheap, bottom shelves of liquor stores, is prized in cocktails for its slight sweetness and notes of vanilla.

BEYOND THE BOOZE

Even more notable, though, are the supporting characters, the liquids that are mixed with the primary cocktails.

A profusion of liqueurs and wines from around the world, once thought exotic and impossible to find outside of their native regions, are now being used to add unusual, hard-to-pinpoint flavors. These are such mixers as Amaro Nonino (an Italian digestif), Cocchi Americano (a citrusy and spicy wine with a bitter edge), Dolin Blanc (a light vermouth) and, of course, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, which seemed to have been used in every craft cocktail from 2007 to about 2012.

And then there are the bitters, the de rigueur flavoring in so many craft cocktails.

Not long ago, all anyone knew about was one type of bitters, Angostura bitters, a concoction from Trinidad made from a strictly secret list of ingredients.

But the explosion of craft cocktails has spurred a concurrent growth in bitters, from grapefruit bitters to rhubarb to peach. From cumin to coriander to cardamom. From chocolate to coffee to Mexican mole and more.

Chocolate bitters play a major role in the Manhattanite cocktail served at Planter’s House in St. Louis. Co-owner Ted Kilgore, who created the drink, said, “I tried to create a riff on a Manhattan that was recognizable as a Manhattan but would have other notes to it.”

The drink begins with Rittenhouse rye, and Kilgore decided to bring out that brand’s subtle hints of orange and chocolate. So he mixed in some of the bar’s house-made vermouth, which has a bit of a bitter orange taste, and added Suze, a French aperitif with some earthy, chocolate tones. A dash of Scrappy’s Chocolate Bitters, made with cocoa nibs, finishes the drink with a splash of chocolate and a touch of spice.

BALANCED COMPOSITION

When creating a drink, “I always go for something that people will like. It’s got to have a balance. Everybody says that, but I think a lot of people don’t understand. You take all your ingredients and try to enhance them to be representative of the base spirit.”

Every part of making a drink comes into play in a craft cocktail, and that includes some formerly overlooked aspects of putting one together. Insisting the glass be chilled before the drink is poured into it is vital, he said, and using the right kind of shaker (metal is best for colder temperatures and quicker dilution).

Even the ice is important. Planter’s House primarily uses Kold-Draft ice, which is harder, denser and slower melting than most ice cubes; it is also filtered three times, so it tastes better, he said.

And when they want even less dilution of the drink, they will pour it over a large, solid, single cube, 2 1/2 inches by 2 inches, that is specially made for the bar by an ice sculptor.

Craft cocktails, he said, come from “someone really striving to make the best cocktail they possibly can with the best ingredients they can.”

At Sanctuaria in St. Louis, the ingredients for a Hendrick’s Experience not only include the hip Hendrick’s gin but also a nearly forgotten old-time favorite, sloe gin.

Bar manager Harrison Massie said the Hendrick’s is muddled with mint and cucumber, then topped with a spicy house-made ginger beer. A few drops of deep-purple sloe gin are allowed to drop to the bottom.

“When we serve it, it looks like a sunset,” he said.

Meanwhile, the definition of cocktails is expanding there, thanks to chef Wil Pelly’s interest in molecular gastronomy and the modern equipment he has been using.

“We just got liquid nitrogen, and we’ve been playing around with frozen cocktails. It has the consistency of sorbet, and when it melts it turns into the cocktail,” Massie said.

One example the bar has just introduced is the Nitro Rose Sangria.

“A lot of customers come in and we ask them if they would like a dessert, and they say ‘No, we’re just going to drink our dessert.’ We made this for them. It is like a dessert cocktail, it’s both,” Massie said.

The drink is made at the table, for an exciting presentation. The sangria is poured into a balloon, which is then bathed in liquid nitrogen until it is frozen. They then open the balloon, put the frozen drink into a cocktail glass, and serve it with spoons. When first served, it is too cold to be eaten.

“You have to let it sit. Then it turns into this ridiculously tasty slushie,” Massie said.

If you have the liquid nitrogen, you can make it yourself. But maybe it is best to leave this one to the professionals.

NITRO ROSE SANGRIA

Recipe adapted from Sanctuaria in St. Louis, Mo.

Makes 1 drink.

2 ounces rose wine

1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

1 ounce Mathilde pear liqueur

1/2 ounce lemon juice

1/2 ounce triple sec

Combine all ingredients. Serve chilled or place drink in balloon. Carefully roll balloon in bath of liquid nitrogen until hard. (Note: This is a dangerously cold substance; be sure you know what you are doing.) Remove drink from nitrogen. Cut away balloon. Place drink in glass.

MANHATTANITE

Recipe adapted from Planter’s House in St. Louis, Mo.

Makes 1 drink.

2 ounces Rittenhouse rye

1/2 ounce Suze

1/2 ounce vermouth (see bartender’s note)

1 dash chocolate bitters

1 orange twist

Stir rye, Suze and vermouth over ice for 30 to 45 seconds. Strain into cocktail glass. Flame orange twist before adding to drink.

Bartender’s note: Planter’s House makes its own blend of vermouth, mixing 3 parts of Punt e Mes with 1 part Cappaletti Vino Aperitivo and 1 part Rabarbaro Zucca Amaro. This is steeped with rind of orange and grapefruit for 48 hours, then strained.

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